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In some ways it's unfortunate that every touch-screen phone that comes out these days is compared to Apple's iPhone. But given the popularity of the iPhone, especially here in the U.S., it's difficult not to do the comparisons.

 

My first impression of the new N97 is that even though it has impressive specifications, like a total of 48 gigabytes of potential storage and a 5-megapixel camera and video recorder, the phone seems more like an evolution of Nokia's N-95 or N-96 smartphones rather than a ground-breaking new touch-screen device that could potentially be the next iPhone killer.

 

For one, the touch-screen wasn't terribly sophisticated. Icons could be dragged and dropped using a finger, but unlike the iPhone, which allows you to pinch text to magnify it or reduce it, or even the new BlackBerry Storm that allows you to double click on text or images to make them bigger, the N97 didn't offer these features.

 

 

Design-wise the phone looked more like Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a tilted screen. In this way, it's an improvement over the N95 or the N96, which offer tons of features and functionality, but lack full QWERTY keyboards.

 

That said, there are a few key features that the N97 offers that the iPhone doesn't. For example, the Nokia Web browser on the N97 supports Flash and Flash video, something that Apple's Safari browser doesn't support. And of course, heavy texters and e-mail enthusiasts, will like the full QWERTY keypad. I've had several iPhone owners tell me that they still carry around a BlackBerry for sending e-mails on the go, because they don't like the iPhone's virtual keyboard for typing longer messages.

 

The phone, which Nokia's marketing team calls a "mobile computer" also offers a whopping 32GB of storage on the device with the option of adding up to another 16GB of storage through a microSD card. And then there is the 5-megapixel camera, which also records DVD-quality video.

 

By contrast, the iPhone only offers up to 16GB of storage and users are unable to add additional storage via microSD cards. Also, the iPhone's camera is only 2 megapixels, and it doesn't offer video recording.

 

 


This is quite an interesting news indeed. It looks like the second android phone will not be coming from China but in the land down under instead. That's right folks, straight from Australia we have the second Android-powered phone dubbed the Kogan Agora Pro. Although, we might think that Australia is a most unlikely place for a highly-regarded mobile phone series to come from, fortunately, the Kogan Agora Android phone would not be failing those who are anticipating the next Android phone to be available in the market.

 

The Agora Android phone is by all means a feature-rich and power-packed mobile device boasting of a full QWERTY keyboard, central navigation key, a 2.5-inch touchscreen, microSD slot and 3G connectivity.

 

Since it will be powered by Google's Android mobile OS, the Agora phone will have some nifty preloaded Google applications including, Search, Calendar, Maps, Gtalk and YouTube.

 

For its key features the Agora Android phone will have a 2.5-inch TFT LCD flat touch-sensitive screen, integrated QWERTY keyboard, high-speed 3G network connection, one-touch Google search, easy web browsing, email attachment support for images, videos, music, and documents, customizable home screen with instant email, text message and IM notifications, instant access to mobile internet services, music player, Wi-Fi, GPS navigation, and 2.0 megapixel camera.

 

Other specs include, keyboard backlighting, built-in microphone and speaker, headphone jack, MIDI, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, PCM ring tone formats, MPEG2 H263, H264, MPEG4 and AVI video support. This mobile phone gives out up to 400 minutes of talk time and 300 hours of standby time.

 

Kogan will be releasing two versions of the Agora phone, the lower end model will retail for AU$299 and the Agora Pro will retail for AU$399. Pre-orders are being accepted right now at the Kogan site. And the good news is, the company will be shipping internationally as soon as the Agora phone becomes available by January 29, 2009.

 

 


 https://www.G1-Forum.com

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Fourteen of the world's largest mobile phone and chip makers, including Sony Ericsson, Vodafone Group Plc and ARM Holdings Plc, joined the Open Handset Alliance on Tuesday to support the Android mobile device platform developed by Google Inc .

 

The new members' pledge to back the Android software is a significant feat for Google in the mobile phone industry, as its T-Mobile G1 phone takes on rival Apple Inc popular iPhone 3G.

 

But despite the big-name additions to the Open Handset Alliance, analysts say what matters is whether the new members introduce more Android-supported smartphones in 2009 and 2010 to compete with rivals such as Symbian, used by Nokia.

 

"It's great to get these folks on board...now (the Open Handset Alliance) has to make sure these licenses actually ship products," said research firm Jupitermedia's vice president of mobile strategy, Michael Gartenberg.

 

The first company of the fourteen new members set to introduce a mobile device that uses the Android operating system is Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp and Sweden's Ericsson. Ericsson said on Tuesday it plans to introduce the Android-supported platforms in mid-2009.

 

"Android is set to become a significant application framework for mobile phones," Ericsson's head of mobile platforms, Robert Puskaric, said in a statement.

 

The Open Handset Alliance said on Tuesday that each of its members commits to developing applications and services for mobile phones and handsets using the Android platform or designing Android-compatible mobile devices.

 

Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc, Toshiba Corp and Garmin Ltd also pledged their support, bringing the total number of companies in the Open Handset Alliance to 47, the Alliance said. These companies join earlier members of the Alliance, such as the world's biggest chip maker Intel Corp and mobile phone makers Motorola Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

 

Both Google and Apple have wooed developers to create applications for their mobile devices, but Apple keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and operating software. Google's Android is open to being changed by outside developers.

 

The addition of new members to the Open Handset Alliance gives Google-developed Android more heft in the battle over who will dominate the mobile phone software market in coming years. Android's biggest competitor is Symbian, which controls half of the market and was acquired by Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, earlier this month.

 

Nokia contributes Symbian's assets to a not-for-profit organization similar to the Open Handset Alliance, the Symbian Foundation. Members of the Symbian Foundation have royalty-free access to Symbian's software.

 

So far, 64 companies have said they plan to join the Symbian Foundation, including Japan's third-largest wireless carrier, Softbank .

 

Android also competes with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has been gaining ground.

 

With a range of companies jumping into the Alliance, such as portable navigation device maker Garmin Ltd, Android has the potential to be featured on devices other than mobile phones. Each mobile phone maker also can modify the Android open source software, which leaves the opportunity open for many future mobile phones.

 

"What's fascinating about Android is it's this malleable thing. As these phones come out from other carriers it looks and operates differently," said Greg Sterling, a Web analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence. He added, "It seems more people will jump on the bandwagon."

 


 

LG Electronics Inc. claimed a step forward in the commercialization of the next generation of Internet capable handsets, demonstrating a modem chip with a download speed eight times that of the fastest mobile phones currently on the market.

 

The South Korean company unveiled the chip, created for a technology standard known as Long-Term Evolution, or LTE, at a research lab in Anyang, just outside Seoul, on Tuesday.

 

The so-called fourth generation technology, still under development, is vying with the rival WiMax standard to usher in super-fast Web browsing and downloads over mobile phones and other wireless devices.

 

"Now that LG has developed and tested the first 4G handset modem, a commercially viable LTE handset is on the horizon," Paik Woo-hyun, LG's chief technology officer, told reporters.

 

LG's claim to be first could not immediately be verified.

 

The company said that mobile carriers have built test networks and the first mobile phones using the technology will probably be available to consumers in 2010.

 

LG said it achieved wireless download speeds of 60 megabits per second and upload speeds of 20 Mbps. The fastest phones on the market use a different technology, known as HSDPA, and download at a maximum speed of 7.6 Mbps, according to LG.

The company said that with the technology a 700 megabit movie file can be downloaded in less than one minute at speeds of 100 Mbps.

LTE also allows consumers to stream high definition movies without needing a buffer, which ensures smooth play.

 

LG said that companies such as Qualcomm Inc., Vodafone Group PLC, Verizon Wireless and Japan's KDDI Corp. are supporting and contributing to the development of the long-term evolution standard.

 

The rival WiMax, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, technology is similar to the WiFi signals available at coffee shops and airports but provides wireless data over long distances and is already in use on a limited basis.

 

WiMax has been backed by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. of the United States.

 


 

 

Verizon Wireless has released a firmware update for its Research in Motion BlackBerry Storm device. The 4.7.0.75 update is now available via the phone's Desktop Software Manager -- accessible by connecting your phone to your PC and running BlackBerry Desktop -- and is expected to go out over-the-air by late Friday evening.

 

The upgrade comes amidst a storm of emotion as BlackBerry fans clash  with the numerous reviewersdelivering overwhelmingly negative impressions of the device. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing report has been writer David Pogue's piece in The New York Times, in which Pogue stated he hadn't "found a soul who tried this machine who wasn't appalled, baffled or both."

 

So can tweaked software turn the numerous naysayers around? It seems much of the critical lashing is geared more at the Storm's design and hardware, including its notably absent physical keyboard. Software issues have arisen as well, however, including Pogue's claim of constant "freezes, abrupt reboots, [and] nonresponsive controls."

 

The firmware update is supposed to correct some of those, including issues in switching between landscape and portrait modes as well as subpar multimedia application performance.

 

Some blog reports indicate Bell Canada is already one step ahead, distributing version 4.7.0.76 of the operating system.

 

BlackBerry Storm Updates website

 

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